Redditor discovers Xbox One 24-hour demo scheme

Microsoft may be about to allow Xbox Live Gold subscribers to play selected games for a 24-hour trial period.

The demo scheme would allow players to play the full game for a day according to a promotional tile discovered on the Xbox Live dashboard and shared on GamesIndustry.biz, Microsoft confirmed the title was posted to the dashboard by mistake and that the company is ‘constantly exploring different ways to offer more benefits to our Xbox Live Gold members’ but did not confirm or deny the existence of the new scheme.

By contrast however, when questioned by a user, the Twitter account for Xbox Support appeared to confirm that the scheme existed and suggested that an official announcement would be made soon.

Limited time game unlocks have been trialled by other services already. Steam regularly has free weekends for various titles. As a timely example, Valve’s digital distribution platform is running a free weekend for Borderlands 2 starting tomorrow.

A 24-hour window to play a new release also sounds similar to the system touted by EA Access, EA’s new Xbox One exclusive subscription service that launched earlier this month.